This report summarizes recent research on collaboration and integrated service delivery for schools and communities in North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction commissioned three research projects to determine the general state of affairs in service delivery for school-age children and their families and to identify ways in which schools can collaborate with other human-service agencies in the state. The findings section is grouped into three parts. Part 1 discusses describes what is working and what is not working and offers lessons learned about effective collaboration. Part 2 discusses collaboration as a strategy to improve services and identifies some of the major stumbling blocks in the state's current systems. The third part presents frameworks for new client-centered designs, derived from case studies of 12 client-families and 5 emerging community collaboratives. In part 4, recommendations for designing a client-driven system include: (1) understand the desperation that first brings clients to ask for help; (2) include clients in the process; (3) remember that clients' best experiences are with individuals; (4) make information accessible to clients; and (5) provide a vision of the client's eventual self-sufficiency. Recommendations for developing a collaborative include: (1) recognize the ironic role of mandates; (2) define and understand differences and similarities openly; (3) establish neutral turf; (4) remember that collaboration is a vision, not an organization; and (5) involve the whole community, including the populations to be served. In the concluding section, 10 tips are offered to players at the state level. One table and one figure are included. (LMI)